USA > Ohio > Trumbull County > A twentieth century history of Trumbull County, Ohio; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Vol. II > Part 12
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account of disability. Two months later he re-enlisted in the same com- pany and regiment, serving three years and seven months. He saw much of the hard service of that never-to-be-forgotten conflict; was in all the engagements in the Western army, except the memorable battle of Shiloh, where he was on the field, but unable to participate in the battle. He received his second discharge at Nashville, Tennessee, after which he returned to Hubbard, where he became interested in, and associated with his father in shipping live stock. He also handled large amounts of feed, the firm being styled Clingan & Hadley, then changed to Clingan, Hadley & Co., and still later to Clingan & Matthews, which was changed to Clingan & Son, then to C. N. Clingan. This is the oldest established business con- cern of Hubbard, and has existed for thirty-eight years. For more than twenty years he was interested in coal mines and in all of his general undertakings has been highly successful in a financial sense. In 1908 he did a business amounting to $60,000. Feed, grain and hay are his special commodities. While in the army he was employed for a time in the secret service, and took great chances of being killed while within the enemy's lines.
Politically, he is a Republican, stanch and loyal. He has filled several local offices, including clerk of the village ; member of the council, ete. He is an ex-commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, at Hubbard, which post has been abandoned, since which time he has joined the Tod Post No. 29, at Youngstown. In his religious faith, Mr. Clingan is a believer in the Presbyterian creed and is a member of that church, in which he is an elder since 1875. His grandfather was an elder many years before he served. In the Law and Order League work he takes a deep interest.
In 1865, Mr. Clingan was married to Sarah J. Matthews, daughter of Thomas and Jane ( Meyers) Matthews. Mrs. Clingan was born in Hubbard township and there reared and educated. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Clingan: Ada, wife of William Pigott, of Seattle, Washington ; May, wife of A. C. Van Ness, of Hubbard township; French, married Josephine, only daughter of M. F. Jacobs, a business man of Youngstown, Ohio; Scott, who is manager of the Republic Mill, at East Chicago, married first, the only daughter of L. L. Campbell, while his present wife was Agnes Campbell (no relation being between first and second wife) ; Olive, wife of Clyde Smith, of Hubbard, who is now assisting in the management of Mr. C'lingan's business.
E. C. GETHING, the present efficient and obliging postmaster at Hub- bard, is a native of Wales, born November 12, 1840. He was reared in his native country and there obtained his education. His occupation in Wales was that of an engine driver, which he began to work at while vet a boy. He also taught school at one time in early life. In 1865, when he was twenty-five years of age, he came to America, locating at Mineral Ridge, Ohio, as a coal miner. He remained there one year and in 1866 went to Hubbard, and became a clerk in the office of Hon. D. J. Edwards, with
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whom he remained two years. He then caught the western fever and was indneed to go to Kansas, where he was employed in the coal mines in Wilson county of that state. After two years there, he retraced his steps to Hubbard, Ohio, and again entered the office of Mr. Edwards, with whom he had been previously employed, the firm then being Edwards, Williams & Co. He continued there until 1872, when he went to Niles, Ohio, and there engaged with James Ward & Co., with whom he remained about one year, then went to Ashtabula and kept books for the Ashtabula Rolling Mill Co., remaining until 1876, when he returned to Hubbard and engaged in mercantile business, locating in the building which he now occupies. He is the oldest merchant, doing business in one stand within the place.
Like all true American citizens, Mr. Gething has ever taken a lively interest in the political affairs of his adopted country. He supports the Republican party. He was elected to the office of member of the school board, which position he filled ten years; was clerk for the same length of time ; was a member of the town council and a candidate for county treas- urer three times. He was appointed postmaster by President Roosevelt in 1908. He has been prudent in all things and accumulated property sufficient to place him in comfortable circumstances. He is one of the stock- holders in the Hubbard Banking Company and in all of his dealings with his fellow men stands out prominent for his traits of integrity and uprightness.
In 1872 Mr. Gething was married to Mrs. Martha ( Henwood) Davies. Three children have blessed this home circle: Mable, wife of Thomas H. Matthews, a traveling man; Freddie, eldest in the family, residing at Hubbard; Georgiana, unmarried and in Columbus, Ohio. Mrs. Gething was first married to Joseph Davies and was the mother of two children : Rev. Joseph Davies, a member of the Methodist church, now located at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, where he is a presiding elder, and Clara, wife of L. H. Conder, of Hubbard. Mr. Gething belongs to the Knights of Pythias at Hubbard.
WILLIAM M. EVANS, ex-postmaster of Hubbard, Ohio, and who has been a resident of the place forty-six years, was born in the city of Youngs- town, Ohio, October 15, 1858. His father was Jenkin Evans, a native of Wales, who came to America when seventeen years of age, locating at Bryer Hill, now Youngstown. About 1860 he went to Hubbard and fol- lowed coal mining for his oceupation, dying there at the age of sixty-five vears. He had been a member of the Welsh and English Baptist church. The mother of William M. Evans, Esther (Jones) Evans, was a native of Wales, and came to our shores when a young woman. She is now residing at Hubbard. This worthy couple were the parents of ten children, six of whom still live-three sons and three daughters.
William M. is the eldest of the ten children and has lived in Hubbard since he was four years of age. Here he obtained his education at the public schools and also studied at night schools. He began the work of a
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coal miner at the tender age of nine years, following the same constantly until twenty-one years of age. Then, believing he was capable of a better calling, he embarked in the mercantile business and in connection there- with had a barber shop. After about two and a half years he engaged in business in Hubbard, his former business site being at Church Hill. In 1897 he was appointed postmaster and filled the position from that time to 1908. He is still operating his barber shop in a successful manner and is now preparing to open a grocery store.
In his political views, Mr. Evans is an avowed Republican and active party worker. He has filled the offices of councilman and director of schools at Hubbard. He was a member of the board of public service and was appointed to build the electric light plant with one other member com- prising a committee. He is an honored member of the Masonic fraternity ; also of the Odd Fellows order. His church faith is in accord with the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal denomination.
Of his family affairs, it may be said that he was married August 1, 1877, to Miss Isabelle Lindsay, daughter of Andrew and Jane Lindsay, of Liberty, Trumbull county, Ohio. Three children have blessed this mar- riage: Andrew, Etta and William. Mrs. Evans died May 8, 1897, and Mr. Evans was married again March 13, 1907, to Clara Maud Williams, daugh- ter of S. M. and Ellen R. Williams of Coshocton, Ohio.
HOMER C. WHITE, county surveyor of Trumbull county, Ohio, is a native of Austintown township, Mahoning county, Ohio, where he was born August 9, 1853, a son of John and Adeline (Weiss) White. The father was born in Youngstown, Ohio, and reared on a farm owned by his father in Weathersfield township. He died in 1875, aged about fifty years. The grandfather, John White, came from Ireland, becoming a pioneer settler in Mahoning county, which then was a part of Trumbull. By occupation, he was a farmer and much interested in the development of the county. He lived in a log house and saw the hardships and privations of new settlers. Homer C. White's mother, Adeline Weiss, was a native of Austintown town- ship, Mahoning county, a daughter of Jacob Weiss, she being one of six- teen children and now the only surviving member of the family. She is almost four-score years old. Her father was a pioneer in Mahoning county and was a native of Pennsylvania, of German descent.
Mr. White is the only son. He has three sisters: Mary E., unmarried ; Sarah P., wife of Frank Lonnen, of Youngstown, Ohio; Addie G., also of Youngstown. Homer C. was the oldest child in the family, and was reared and educated in Trumbull county, his higher schooling being obtained at Bethany, West Virginia, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. He began the study of land surveying about 1874 and became surveyor of Trumbull county in 1887 and has filled the position ever since, with the exception of three years, when he was city engineer of Warren. He is now employed as engi- neer for Road District No. 1, and also for the Liberty Township Road District.
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Politically, Mr. White is a lifelong Republican and a good and hon- orable worker in his party. He is a member of the Christian church, the mother and father having been exemplary members of the same. Mr. White married in 1878 Athaliah Hood, daughter of John and Amanda ( Siddall) Hood, by whom three children were born: Arthur J., who has been commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps ; Lena, wife of Robert Hughes, of Mineral Ridge, Ohio, and residing in Pittsburg, Pa .; and Hazel, at home. Mr. White resides on the old home- stead in Weathersfield township.
CHARLES F. WHITE, mayor of the municipality of Hubbard, Ohio, was born in that town February 14, 1869. He is the son of M. B. White, who was born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1838, and M. B. was a son of Adam M. White, a native of Kittaning, Pennsylvania, who settled at Youngstown at an early day, probably about 1837.
M. B. White went to Hubbard in 1862 and died there in the month of June, 1907. By trade he was a carpenter and worked on many of the original buildings of the town and vicinity of Hubbard. His last days were spent in the insurance business. His wife, the mother of Charles F. White, was Minerva Rigby, a native of Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, where the Cascade Park is situated. She was born in 1840 and still survives. She is the daughter of Joseph Rigby, who was also a native of Pennsylvania, and who by occupation was a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. M. B. White were united in marriage at Edenburg, Pennsylvania, in 1862 and became the parents of five children, two of whom died in infancy. The living are: Charles F .; Edwin : and Bessie, wife of Charles Quinby, of Sharon, Penn- sylvania.
Charles F. White is the eldest of the family living. He was reared and educated at Hubbard. He was an apt scholar and taught school before he was sixteen years of age, continuing in that profession until he was nineteen years of age. His next work was that of serving as billing clerk for the old Pittsburg and Western Railroad Company, with whom he remained from 1888 to 1891. On April 15, of the last named year, he began his duties as tracing clerk for the same company in their general freight office. Two years later he gave up his position on account of ill health, and was not actively employed for three years. In 1896, however, he returned to the employ of the Pittsburg and Western Railroad and took a position in the claim department, the following year being placed at the head of the claim department and held such place until 1902, at which time the railroad company was sold to the Baltimore and Ohio Company. He resigned his position and returned to his home in Hubbard, he having remained at Pittsburg during his railroad work. He never lost his Hubbard residence, but always went back there to cast his vote at the annual elections.
Politically, he is a radical and uncompromising Republican, doing his full share in the work of his chosen party. In 1905 he was elected mayor
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of Hubbard and re-elected in 1902. He was appointed Republican com- mitteeman at Hubbard in 1908. His long training in business circles, and his contact with men, has peculiarly fitted him to perform the duties devolv- ing upon a public officer, and he administers the affairs of the mayor's office with much ability.
S. Q. MARCH, president of The Hubbard Banking Company, forms the subject of this narrative. Mr. March was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, May 8, 1841, a son of Philip March, who was a native of Virginia, born in Berkley county, in 1803, and came to Ohio with his father, Henry March, in 1808. The family located in Columbiana county, where the father of S. Q. March was married. The grandfather, Henry, died in the military service during the war of 1812. His father was born in Mont- gomery county, Pennsylvania, and about the time of the British occupancy, the family migrated to Virginia.
Philip March, the father of S. Q., was reared and educated in Colum- biana county, Ohio, and followed farming and merchandising. He died in Columbiana county in 1866. The mother of him for whom this sketch is especially compiled was Saralı Gillmer, a native of Allegheny county, Penn- sylvania, where she lived until about fourteen years of age. Her parents died when she was young and she made her home with an older brother. She died in 1859, aged fifty-five years. The parents of Mr. March had six sons and two daughters who reached maturity, only three of whom survive: S. Q., John H., and D. W. March.
S. Q. March is the sixth child in his parents' family and the fifth son. He was reared in his native county and attended school there. He also attended the old Mahoning Academy, at Canfield, and Elder's Ridge Acad- emy, at Eldersridge, Indiana county, Pennsylvania. For several years he was engaged in teaching school and in 1867 came to Hubbard, Ohio, where he engaged in the hardware business, being a partner of W. C. and T. A. Winfield, continuing about two years, when he dissolved his relation with that firm and engaged in the lumber business. Later, he was made the principal of the Hubbard schools. He then followed the hardware business three years longer and in 1876 became secretary of the Hubbard Savings Bank. In 1878 the institution became a national bank, and so continued until 1886, during which period Mr. March was its secretary and later its cashier. In 1886 the bank was reorganized and became known as the Hubbard Banking Company, with Mr. March as its cashier. In 1903 he was made its president, which position he still retains. He has been the active head of the concern for about twenty years. The capital stock is $50,000 and the institution does a general banking business and has a surplus of $35,000, with deposits amounting to $300,000.
Politically, Mr. March is an independent Democrat. He has been a member of the school board for about fifteen years and on the village council about the same length of time. He being highly competent, has held various other local offices, including township clerk, treasurer, trustee and
Denye Ilevery
MARY CASE STEVE NE
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realty assessor. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having been connected with this society for more than thirty years. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, in which he was reared and has been an elder in this church for the last ten years. That he is well and favorably known in Trumbull county, almost goes without saying.
Mr. March was happily united in marriage in the month of February, 1871, to Caroline M. Jackson, who died in 1874, and in 1879 he married Amy L. Appelgate, who still survives. There has been no issue by either marriage.
BENJAMIN STEVENS, one of the pioneer cloth manufacturers of War- ren, Ohio, and for many years a prominent business man of that city, was born in Old Canaan, Connecticut, July 2, 1788. The deceased was a lineal descendant of Henry Stevens, who settled at Stonington, Connecticut, ay early as 1668, and took part in King Philip's War. Jonathan Stevens, the father of Benjamin Stevens, was also a native of Old Canaan, Connec- tient, where he was born March 2. 1762. After his marriage he moved to Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and thence in 1:99 to Addison county, Vermont. Being within the active field of operation in the war of 1812, he joined the American forces when the British invaded the western shore of Lake Champlain and was one of the participants in the battle of Platts- burg. At this time and for many years previously, he had owned and operated a farm on Lake Champlain. Later in life, he settled at Newton Falls, Ohio, where he passed his remaining years. His first wife was Susan Wells, and she was of an old Connecticut family prominent in the colonial history of the country. She was a granddaughter of General Burrall, a Revolution soldier, and she died in Vermont. Afterward Mr. Jonathan Stevens married a second time.
When fourteen years of age, Benjamin Stevens, of this review, was apprenticed to a manufacturer of cloth, and having mastered the industry and business he engaged in the manufacture of cloth himself. During the progress of the war of 1812 the demand for this product was large and the business was very profitable, but with the conclusion of the war and the withdrawal of the army from the field the demand fell off so greatly that his enterprise suffered, in common with that of other like manufacturers. In 1816 Mr. Stevens decided to settle in the territory northwest of the Ohio river. He first landed at Fairport, in the Western Reserve, but finally settled at Warren, Ohio. He there purchased two mills that were then in operation, and engaged extensively in the making of satinettes and fulled cloth. Later, his brothers, Charles and Augustus, became associated with him and the three continued in the profitable business for several years. Benjamin Stevens was actively engaged in business at Warren for thirty years, until 1846, when he disposed of his interests and was able to retire from active life. He died July 31, 1884. The deceased was certainly a remarkable man in many respects, for despite his long and strenuous labors he retained his robust health until the last. and was also bright and cheerful
Vol. II-7
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mentally. He was married in 1825 to Mary Case, a native of Pennsylvania, a daughter of Meshach Case, her father being born in New Jersey and re- moving from Pennsylvania to Warren, Ohio, in 1800. Mr. Case is recorded in northwestern history as being the third settler at that point, and the land which he improved now adjoins the city of Warren. Before marriage his wife was Magdalena Eckstein, a native of Virginia and of German descent. Mr. Stevens' faith was that of Methodism and in the work of the denomi- nation he was long prominent throughout his mature life, being for about fifty years a class leader in the local organizations and it may be added with decision that his morality and every detail of his life were in strict accord with that of his profession.
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Stevens became the parents of five children : Benjamin, Jr., Mary, Harriet, Lucy Wells, and Leonard Eckstein. Mary and Harriet have been life long residents of Warren, Ohio; Benjamin, Jr., died in childhood; Leonard E. died when twenty-two years of age; and Lucy Wells married Emerson Opdycke. Her husband enlisted in the Civil war and entered the services as lieutenant, but was promoted for his gallant and faithful conduct to brigadier-general. He is now deceased and his widow resides in New York.
CAPT. HARRY W. ULRICH, editor and proprietor of the Hubbard Enterprise, is a native of Bristolville, Trumbull county, Ohio, born May 6, 1872. He is the son of Silas A. Ulrich, who was by occupation a merchant, and in trade in Youngstown, Ohio, for several years. The grandfather, David Ulrich, was among the pioneer band who settled Bristolville, Ohio. He followed agriculture and was closely identified with the early settlement of the county. Captain Ulrich's mother, Ardella Gilson, was the daughter of Dr. D. W. Gilson, of the northern portion of Trumbull county, where he was an early settler and became a well-to-do farmer in Mesopotamia township. The Gilsons were represented in the Revolutionary war by mem- bers of the immediate family.
Captain Ulrich, of this narrative, was the eldest in the family of five children born to his parents, of whom three were sons and two daughters. The captain and one sister, Miss Genevieve (now living with her mother in Youngstown) are the only survivors of the family. Captain Ulrich was reared and educated in Youngstown, Ohio, and remained with his father until 1898. He served in the late Spanish-American war, he being commissioned first lieutenant of Company H, Fifth Ohio Volunteers. He served in the postoffice department six years at Youngstown, going to Hubbard in 1905 and there purchased the Enterprise, the leading news- paper of that section of Trumbull county, and of which he is still editor and proprietor.
Mr. Ulrich has been a member of the National Guards since 1892. He joined as a private soldier and was promoted to corporal the following year ; was gradually promoted, until he was commissioned captain in 1899 and is still holding that rank.
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Believing in the good accomplished by fraternal societies, Capt. Ulrich has identified himself with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belong- ing to Hebron Lodge, at Youngstown; also a member of the Council of Junior Order United American Mechanics. He is a member of Major Logan Camp, No. 26, U. S. W. V., and served in 1904-08. as department adjutant of the state. He is also a member of the Letter Carriers' Asso- ciation at Youngstown. Politically, he is an ardent supporter of the gen- eral principles of the Republican party and is an active factor in the same.
Coming from a family having its soldiers all along down the genera- tions, and having had much experience in National Guard affairs, Captain Ulrich ranks high in military organizations. As a journalist, he stands well in the fraternity of the modern-day newspaper men and publishes a clean, newsy and creditable paper.
GEN. ROBERT WILSON RATLIFF, whose life's record is so replete with great and noble deeds, justly finds place in the annals of the county and state in which he bore so conspicuous a part. As citizen and soldier, General Ratliff will ever stand out in striking contrast. as compared with the ordinary citizen. General Ratliff was born in Howland township, Trumbull county, Ohio, June 22, 1822. His boyhood was spent on his father's farm, and after a short period spent in school teaching, he entered upon the study of law in 1844, and was admitted to the bar in 1846. Of his parentage, it may be said in passing that he was the son of John and Elizabeth ( Wilson) Ratliff.
Subsequent to his admission to the bar, he had been teller for seven years in the Western Reserve Bank, after which he entered actively into the practice of his profession, continuing until the breaking out of the Civil war. He began his law studies with H. Canfield of Warren and concluded with Wade & Ranney. After he was admitted to the bar, he was employed both as teller and bookkeeper in the bank already named. He then formed a law partnership with Ilon. B. F. Hoffman, which ended at the election of his partner to the judgeship. Mr. Ratliff then went into partnership with John Hutchins and J. D. Cox. Two years later, upon the election of Mr. Hutchins to a seat in Congress, the firm became Cox, Ratliff & Spear, which relation existed until Mr. Ratliff entered the Union army. After the close of the war he resumed his law practice.
One of the vital chapters in the life of this man is the one covering his military career. The day following the firing upon Fort Sumter he went to Columbus, and upon his return assisted in organizing military companies in this county and at Cleveland, until August, 1861, when he was made lieutenant-colonel of the Second Ohio Cavalry. He accompanied that regiment to Kansas, and made the Indian expedition to the Cherokee Nation, assisting in restoring the Union Cherokees to their territory. Early in 1863 he was ordered with his regiment to Columbus, where it was remounted and armed, and from there sent to Kentucky, thence on to Tennessee. After the battle of Jackson's Farm, Col. Ratliff resigned and
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came home, raising the Twelfth Ohio Cavalry, of which he was made first lieutenant-colonel October 12, 1863. On the 20th of November following he was promoted to the colonelcy. With this regiment he served until they were mustered out. March 13, 1865, Colonel Ratliff was made brigadier- general "for gallant and meritorious service in the expedition under Gen- erals Burbridge and Stoneman in southwestern Virginia." He was severely wounded at Duck Creek, Tennessee. He bore well his part in the weary marches, battles, privations and sufferings and shared in the immortal glory of the Western Reserve regiment which marched twenty-seven thousand miles and fought ninety-seven battles. One more incident in this brave man's career should find a place in this narrative, showing as it does his true military bravery.
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